Well, it (which we don't have to call it an "it" anymore) has arrived! Otis Stone Stumbaugh was born on December 8th at 11:03pm. 6lbs 15oz 20 inch long baby burrito of fun!
Melanie's water broke at 3:30am and started having contractions about 30 minutes later. Poppa Stumbaugh did about two hours of "sleep monitoring" before ringing the fire alarm and called the necessary necessaries later in the AM. Melanie's folks were on the road from Oregon what seemed like within the hour:) The midwife told us to hang out and not call until we hit the 511, which meant the contractions would be less than 5 minutes apart, lasted more than one minute, and for one hour.
We spent the day laboring at the house, practicing deep breathing and hypobirthing techniques. Melanie had a hard time eating, she went the entire day with only some yogurt, a bite of spelt toast, a few bites of plain white rice and a cashew bar. Melanie made a multi-hour long birthing playlist with super droning ambient music that helped the relaxed mood.
I called the midwife around 3pm as the contractions starting getting more frequent and intense. She told us to hang in there, to run a bath and try and slow them down and hopefully Melanie could get a nap in, as it would be a marathon day with much needed rest. By this point I had to help her walk around the house and kept her propped up for vertical contractions. The bath was comforting and Melanie tried to sleep with little success.
Our midwife had suggested that post-bath we try having her labor while switching between sitting upright and walking. This way more pressure is put on the cervix and assists in speeding up the process. After an hour of this exhausting exercise the contractions got really intense, we decided it was time to go over to the birthing center.
The head midwife Roseanne told us it would be 30 minutes before she could get there. Melanie's contractions had intensified so much that we were a little worried that our baby would be born in the birthing center parking lot on the hood of our car. Luckily that didn't happen though:) Roseanne arrived and after examining Melanie she said everything was looking fine and she was 8cm dilated, the baby was gonna be here soon! Xochitl arrived with some provisions and called the grandparents to meet at the birthing center. Xochitl ended up being a life saver as the nurse was going to be late and Roseanne needed an extra pair of hands to assist getting things prepped for delivery.
At this point Melanie was doing so good given the feeling of discomfort. She kept breathing deep and looked as if in another world. Roseanne filled the birthing tub, or "hippie bird bath", with luke-warm water. I think we got in the tub around 10:30pm, I know I liked it:)
The families had arrived in the waiting room and Xotchitl brought them updates on our situation. Melanie was fully dilated at this point and was ready to pop. The whole process was pretty surreal, watching the top of my baby's head appear and disappear into the void was way better than anything I've seen on the Discovery Channel. Melanie was still keep cool and collected, a few contractions seemed to get the best of her but only briefly. One last guttural yelp and the entire head came popping out. Seeing his head sitting under water got me a little nervous. I knew it was fine but the fresh parental instinct to stop my baby from drowning was hard to control. Soon after the shoulder came out, that white gravy covered baby was flopping in his mama's arms.
We got cleaned up and let the Grandparents w/Mr. Macphee come in. The Grandma's "oooed" and "awwwed" while taking prohibited flash photography. My Dad told a story of when I pooped in a shoe. Sabin got me a much needed cup of coffee as my own general fatigue was catching up with me. Melanie was taking her victory lap, her energy revitalized and alert, hard to believe she just had a baby looking so good like that.
After lot's of paperwork and mini-baby tutorials with the nurse, we got home around 3am we think. Otis is doing great, making cute little squirrel noises and sleeping like a baby, yup, pun intended.
Much thanks for all the love and support from our families, our super-mega-fantastic friends, and special thanks to the Macphee's for being solid during this whole process.
Love,
Tony Melanie and Otis Stumbaugh
aka Tometis or Melantotis or Otilonie
